FBC Defenders

The FBC Defenders(STONE) finished up the regular season on a tear (3rd Place) as their final standing are as follows; 4 wins 2 losses, played without their regular season head coach (John Stone) for all W 4th Street games. New head coach (Jasmine Lytle) guided the squad the allof the way and has been flawless in that effort. Big thanks the the adults (John Frederick) on the bench as the team could not possibly have done this without you (Jerod, Mrs. Stone, Andrea). The program is so lucky to have people like you! Reason, Season, Lifetime.

Next up for the Defenders @ W 4th Street are the playoffs where they will be the Lady XMEN in the semi-final game @ 9:15 a.m. Hope to see all Defenders family at the game!!!!

It is a hot & steamy summer saturday morning here in NYC as people begin to gather for what would ultimately become HISTORY for a team (and small program with only 2 teams) that seems to somehow show up 10 out 10 times wherever they go. In today’s me, me, me, take what I can world of aau basketball this would seem EXTREMELY odd but yet very refreshing if true. Well believe me it is absolutely, positively, TRUE. The FBC Defenders all arrive in new york this day ready to play there late morning game like they have so many times in the past. Parents and players gathering as if they are in their backyard preparing for a family function. Exchanging hugs and pleasantries like siblings all ultimately making there was to the matriarch of the program. Is this real? Some might think it’s not but for this program it is because of one primary founding principle. The FBC Defenders are a family through and through. Know that and NEVER doubt it, cause for EVERY family that it touches, they do KNOW it is ABSOLUTELY true.

here at the Cage, a world famous venue sitting in village next door to the Blue Note. The bustle picking up now the Defenders are finally up, gametime. Now at the cage fans all know when the Defenders play it will be an exciting game. Especially since they have this extremely dynamic coach who always seems to come with kid never seen before who just erupts at some point in a game. Win or Lose! It is amazing to watch and so the fence outside starts to pack.  The refs call for captains, little minute check, jump ball and the game is on. As the Positive direction team come out they jump on the Defenders from the start. A little startle the defenders take a quick blow but survive it. Remember now that’s nothing for them. Why? Because that who they are and they know it is NOT over yet game just started. Staring into the eyes of one of the Pd players is a kid that really looks like she should be at the short somewhere hanging. But what THEY don’t know is she is smoldering. Up the floor, down the floor they go. And them all of a suddden that same young lady does a quick body check. AM I FEELING, YES, IS IT TIME, HECK YEAH, you see had been asked that at key times in games before by her coach. BUT TODAY SHE IS NOT WAITING FOR HIM. Today it would be her who decides. At that moment she demanded the ball and BANG! Rain a 3333333333! On her way back she thought, that felt good. O crap you guy are in trouble and you don’t even know. Then all of a sudden she smiled. Now running the point for the Defenders is Ashanti Bess. Serving at point due to the abscence of the talented Shari Jones who normally starts. Now Ashanti has been working with Coach Stone to get her mentally to a place where she can KNOW she is a beast. Today she is there so looking this teammate of hers she sees it and thinks OMG. So next few position she is pass her the ball EVERYTIME she can. Who is she? Only the FBC Defenders Rose Classic famous Janissa “let id rain” Delzo!!!!!!! And for a short while at west fourth the sun was out but Janissa began to just make it RAIN 3s. Before the other team could realize the Defenders were right back in it and the team called time. Yelling at her team not to relax the coach made a critical mistake. She told her team not to let up until up by twenty. Bad move as the Defenders heard that and it was OVER!

Final Score FBC Defenders 59    Positive Direction 41    GAME OVER!

High Scorers Jasmine “ol skool” Phelps with 14 pts, Shalette “The Beastie” with 10pts and of course Janissa “Rain” Delzo 10 pts, Tia “Paryana” Kelly 9 brds 4 blks, and final Ashanti “you don’t know” Bess 7 dimes.

Now I know the coach so thought why not say hello. To my surprise the team was coach by Jamine “big pretty smile” Lytle currently the single most hearlded Defenders player of ALL time and sitting quietly on the bench with her making her coaching debut was MRS BRENDA STONE, the coaches wife. OMG!

Hey coach, I hope you’re doing well just keeping you updated with the games. Today we had to play 4 on 4 against the PA Storm. We only scored 2 points in the first half to the storm’s 20 something, during the start of the second half the team was motivated by the parents to hustle and play hard. With the help of Parris… J. Branker and Janaysia James to get us scoring, we soon found out that we could actually play a game with only 4 people. I was the teams leading scorer with 8 points, but with 4 or 5 minuets left on the clock Parris J. Branker goes down with a minor knee injury. The game ended 16-33., just as I was geting into a scoring groove, I was upset and then realized that our team was fighting, not only to try to come back and make the game close but to also prove to our parents and coach that we four players have heart and really wanted to play. Today was a good day for FBC DefendersAAU Frederick team.

By Karalyne Brown

Another 100 degree scorcher for our third day at Penn State, and the Recreation Center couldn’t have been hotter for our fifth game, this time facing a fellow New Jersey team: Hunterdon United.  The first few minutes of the game were all Walker as she hit for three consecutive 3’s.  More offense rolled in with an assist from Shari to Shalette, who finished with some shake-n-bake in the lane for 2.  Ashanti snatched a steal, went down the floor for 2, and followed up with a 3.  We were off to a good start at 16-5.  The team was executing well on defense, with Shari up top, using her feet.  Walker had a great hustle play diving on the floor and coming up with the ball.  Shalette was playing strong in the post, pulling down rebounds.  Even Shari got in there, fighting for a rebound, then put back, got the foul, made 2 of 2.  Janissa got in on the trend, ripping a rebound away from a taller defender.  Jenean hit for 2 from outside, followed by another 3 from Walker.  The half ended with Defenders leading 30 t0 20.

The parade of 3’s continued into the 2nd half with Shari hitting a 3 from the top to extend our lead to 33-20.  Walker drove strong into the paint.  Ashanti hit another 3.  Shalette contributed strong defensive plays with a block and then a steal.  Erika got in there to rebound, went back up, and got the foul.  Ashanti put up another 3 to give us a more comfortable buffer at 41-26.  Shalette continued to go strong to the basket, got fouled, and made 2 of 2.  Janissa got a steal, put up a shot for 3, missed, but Tia was waiting to rebound and put it back for 2.  Shalette picked off another steal and went down the court for 2.  We closed the game out at 49-30, with a total of nine 3’s.  The team will play a final game on Thursday at 11:30 to determine a 9th or 10th place finish in the Southern Bracket.  Go Defenders.

High scorer was Ashanti with 13, closely followed by Walker with 12.  Ashanti had the high with 5 assists.  Shalette had a high of 8 rebounds.  Tia had 2 blocks.

FBC Defenders (Stone) tipped off at 11:30 AM on Wednesday, July 7th against the Buffalo Storm for their fourth game of the Penn State Blue Chip Tournament.  The Storm had a 5-0 run going until Walker drove into the lane, got fouled, and made 1 of her free throws.  Shari had a pass to Tia in the high post and she was fouled on her turnaround jumper, making 2 of 2, to bring the score to 3-5.  This was a sign of things to come, as the refs called an extremely tight game, calling every slight hand check and contact as a foul.  Defenders executed well on defense, forcing the Storm to step out on the baseline and causing a turnover.  Shari continued the foul festival, driving in for a layup and, you guessed it, fouled.  Shalette drove the lane next, and was also fouled.  Walker had a good block on a drive into the paint, followed by a steal by Shari, drive, made layup and 1 (not made).  Ashanti hit a 3 to bring us to 9-5.  The Storm also spent a lot time at the line, and the score was tied up at 9-9.  Shalette was active under the boards, getting her own rebound and putting it up for a basket for 11-9.  Erika had a good defensive play disrupting a pass into the paint.  Ashanti put up a 3, missed, but had Shalette there to rebound it, go up and get the foul, and shoot 2 of 2 from the foul line to put the score to 13-11.  Shari had a pass ahead to Walker who drove in for 2 to make it 15-11.  Janissa’s strong defense forced a travel call for another turnover.  Shari had a drive into the lane, got fouled, and made 2 of 3 to extend our lead to 17-13.  A midrange jumper by Janissa took us to 19-13.  The Storm battled back to get the score to 19-17.  Shari made a pass in to Shalette who put it up for 2 to bring us to 21-17.  Amazingly, we were already into 1 and 1 foul shots with several minutes to go in the half.  Shari had a drive, got fouled, and made 1 of 2 shots.  We ended the half at 21-18.

The second half got started with more foul calls, much to the chagrin of supporters from both teams.  Storm took the lead at 21-22.  We traded baskets, then Shari found Janissa for a 3 to bring the lead back to our side at 26-24.  Walker stole the ball, and went coast to coast for 2.  More seemingly endless foul shooting, until Janissa hit another 3 to make the score 32-28.  Walker had another drive, followed by 2 foul shots, then a steal on an inbound pass.  Ashanti also took a steal and went the length of the court for 2.  Ashanti hit a 3 to bring the score to 39-34.  The Storm kept hanging on, taking advantage of their free throws.  Shalette continued to make a lot of plays under the boards until she fouled out with 5:14 to go in the half.  We started to take advantage of the ref’s close calling by driving more to the basket.  Walker and Janissa both got fouled and made 2 of 2.  Shari was tussling under the boards with the big girls, while Tia got foulded and made 1 of 2.  We had more fouls to close out the final minute, but we came out ahead 47-38.  All the fans would have preferred to see less foul calls, and have the game flow more, but we’ll take the win.

High Scorer and Rebounder goes to Walker with 11 points and 7 rebounds.  Shari and Walker both had high assists with 3 each.  Shalette had 1 block.

FBC Defenders (Stone) played their third game at Penn State against Basketball to the Limit on Tuesday afternoon.  The other team got off to a 4 point lead, but an assist from Shari to Walker for 3, soon brought us to 3-4.  Shari hit Tia in the post, who then had a turnaround jumper to give us the lead at 5-4.  Defenders were fighting hard for rebounds, with Janissa putting one back up and taking the foul.  She hit 2 of 2 from the line.  Ashanti’s 3 attempt was rebounded by Shalette, put back up for 2 and 1.  Shalette also treated us to another spin move in the lane to keep us within 2, at 11-13 with 6:39 in the first half.  Defensive pressure by Walker forced a travel by the opponent.  Ashanti connected on a 3 to tie the game at 14-14.  Walker drove down the lane, made her shot, and got fouled to bring up ahead at 17-16.  Ashanti grabbed a steal and took off, with Janissa trailing. Janissa then took the pass and made a pull up jumper for 2.  We were tied again at 19-19.  Shalette drove through the lane, got fouled, and made 2 of 2 to give us the 21-19 lead with 2:10 to go in the half.  Shari hit for a 3, bringing the lead to 24-19.  Erika jumped into the passing lane to grab a steal.   We ended the half ahead 24-21.

The second half continued to be a nail-biter, with Shari getting a steal and Shalette driving all the way for 2, to tie us at 26-26.  Walker connected on a short jumper to push us ahead 28-26.  Shalette was aggressive, fighting under the boards, and muscling up shots.  Walker drove for 2, and 1.  Shari executed some excellent defense against the back door play, swatting the ball out and back to us.  Jenean displayed her usual defensive prowess.  We suffered a serious blow when Ashanti got tangled up with a player on the other team who was driving, and went down hard.  She left the game after this scary collision with the floor.  We were down 34-36 at 5:24 to go in the game.  We continued neck and neck for the remaining minutes, and were up 38-36 with 2:09 to go.  Legs were getting weary by this point in the contest.  There were also some very puzzling calls by the officials at the end of the game, including a very questionable traveling call.  The girls all fought hard, but lost 39-44.

High Scorer was Shalette with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  Ashanti and Walker had 2 steals each, and high assists goes to Ashanti with 4.

FBC Defenders (Frederick) lost a tough game to CBC, a Connecticut team, at Penn State.  The game got started with Karalyne tying up CBC’s center under the basket for a jump ball.  Nay Nay also showed some strong D with a block in the paint.  Janissa put up a 3, missed, but Karalyne rebounded and put it back up for 2.  Unfortunately, the team also had several errant passes which led to turnovers and found themselves down by 7 to 23 with just a few minutes to go in the half.  Karalyne hung in there with good post defense of CBC’s big girl. Jackie executed some tough defense, coming away with a steal.  Parris hit an outside shot, called a 2 by the refs, but a 3 from the parent’s view, to bring us to 22 to 35.  Parris also hit 2 of 2 from the line after being fouled on a drive to the basket.  Karalyne showed a spin move, turnaround jumper for 2.  Despite a good effort, and with a short-handed squad, the team lost with a final score of 34-46.